Tony Iommi has confirmed that Brian May will guest on his forthcoming solo album, From The Dark, with the Queen guitarist contributing a solo to one of its doomiest tracks.
The Black Sabbath guitarist and godfather of heavy metal announced his long-awaited solo album last week with a livestreamed event and a new single, World Alone. From The Dark drops on October 23 via BMG. and finds Iommi accompanied by Jorn Lande on vocals, Becky Baldwin on bass guitar, and Karl Brazil on drums.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Iommi reveals that May plays on a track called Death Wake, a track with a “weird riff” and solo hot from the Red Special – and May had the option of playing more on the album, but politely refused.
“I did say to him, ‘Do you want to play on something else?’ He said, ‘No, no. Your solos are good. I don’t need to play,’” But it was great that he did,” says Iommi.
Iommi says May is the only high-profile guest on the album. He wanted to keep the project “like a band”. He did, however, want Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler to play on it but he was unavailable. And time was marching on.
“I wanted him to play on this album, but he couldn’t do it,” says Iommi. “He’s doing his own album, I think. Or at the time, something happened there, so he couldn’t come to England. I wanted to get it done and finally get it out, really.”
Iommi says Baldwin, who is both A) a Geezer Butler superfan and B) from Sabbath’s hometown Birmingham, was the perfect choice. Her style is heavily informed by Butler’s playing. “I thought let’s give it a try. And she was good,” he says.
So, too, was May. Though he needed a bit of reassurance.
“It was great that he did,” says Iommi. “I just played him a couple of things, and [he] done it here at the studio in my house. Then of course he’d play something and go, ‘Oh, I don’t know about it.’ I go, ‘I like it.’”
May guested on Iommi’s 2000 self-titled album, playing alongside the Cult’s Ian Astbury on Flame On, and with Dave Grohl on Goodbye Lament.
But the pair go way, way back.
“In the very early ‘70s, he was in one studio, and I was in another. And we just hit it off,” Iommi tells Rolling Stone. “We’ve been friends for, God, nearly 60 years. We stay in touch all the time. He’s played onstage a couple of times with me, and then we’ve done a couple of album tracks we played on together. He’s a very, very close friend.”
Check out the video for World Alone above, and find out more at Iommi.
